Man shot in head during alleged gun store break-in
It would seem obvious that a firearms dealer specially licensed by the federal government to sell machine guns would know how to shoot, but burglars probably didn’t expect to face his wrath at 1:45 in the morning.
That is how Houston police say matters played out early Tuesday when a man was shot in the head and critically wounded while allegedly trying to break into Class 3 Weapons near north Houston near the intersection of North Shepherd and Tidwell.
It was the second time this week a local gun store has been hit. The other was Monday, when a backhoe was used to bash a hole in Warthog Firearms, off Main.
“Every gun store owner probably needs to live in their gun store to protect it,” said Jim Pruett, a former gun dealer who was robbed three times in five years.
“It is not if they are going to burglarize you, it is when,” he said. “These punks out there … they think it is easy money.”
Class 3 Weapons is unique among gun stores, as it is approved by the federal government to sell National Firearms Act weapons that are strongly regulated by
the federal government, including machine guns, short-barrel shotguns and silencers.
Machine guns are not only capable of firing automatically, but can go for many thousands of dollars more than other rifles.
Stealing from gun dealers hits home in the Houston region, which leads the nation not only in the number of federally licensed firearms dealers, but in the number of guns dealers report as lost or stolen, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The ATF, which is assisting police in probes of the two latest incidents, said it currently has more than 20 open investigations into the theft or disappearance of caches of firearms taken within the confines of the Houston Division, which includes Austin and San Antonio.
“We don’t shut down a case until all investigative leads have been halted,” said Gary Orchowski, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF Houston Division. “If even one of the firearms is still out on the street, that investigation will remain open.”
In 2014, dealers nationwide reported 234 burglaries in which a total of 4,612 firearms were stolen, according to the ATF.
“It is like a roller coaster,” Orchowski said of the pace of such robberies. “They come in waves.”
The attempt to rob Class 3 Weapons remains under investigation, including how many other people may have been involved.
The store’s owner who fired at the would-be burglars was interviewed by police, but declined to speak with the media.
The store, which is along a street of auto salvage yards, was closed Tuesday. The sturdy gate around the parking lot had double locked padlocks. The only remnants aside from a few bullet holes in a fence were yellow crime scene tape tied to a bollard and a purple latex glove likely left behind by a first responder.
Pruett, who formerly owned a Houston-area gun store, said he was amazed at what lengths burglars would go to try to get in his store: throwing hefty bricks at ballistic glass, running a pick-up into a back door and climbing down an air conditioning vent.
Alice Tripp, spokeswoman for the Texas State Rifle Association, said she has never heard of a firearms dealer which sold the special level firearms available at Class 3 Weaponry being successfully robbed.
“They lock everything down. You just don’t grab and dash,” she said. “It is not a 7-Eleven or a liquor store.”